Lost someone dear to me :(

Mr. Canadian Hemlock that is. It's been so unbelievably dry, I wonder what's next? I lost an arborvitae too. The tall fescue, one of the toughest grasses around has gone dormant and brown already. The leaves are going to drop too soon and it's just [deleted] all around. I'm so sick of this dry weather! I've only mowed my grass once in about 2 1/2 months. I've lost other perennials...not sure how many, but I know some are already gone. I'm watering as much as I can now...if I don't, much more will die.

Amen to all of the above. Keria, Hosta, Weigela, and more finally showing signs of giving up, no matter how much water they get, it is never the same as rain.

Now I feel guilty about cursing all this rain! There is so much to do before the imminent freeze that I would like some dry days. Too bad I can't drop some of the moisture in an envelope and send it to you. So sad to see old friend in your garden waste away!

Oh, I'm so sad about your hemlock. We have two -- it's our state tree. They seem to be surviving the drought OK so far, but of course they've probably been here since Napoleon was a corporal, so I guess they're pretty tough old grannies.

We're under mandatory drought restrictions, so I'm doling out the water very carefully. I wish there was some way to let the neighbors (and the township) know that we only flush "when it's serious" and we're turning the shower off to soap up. Then I wouldn't feel so defensive when I'm conspicuously consuming water in the garden.

I've been lucky so far, so I'll stop complaining. Keria is OK. Hostas everywhere look sad, but I was figuring they'd come back from this. Kalmia is doing fine (also an ancient soul). Rhody has that drop ear look.

suky

hmmmm...just noticed in the preview that my town and zone aren't showing up with my name any more. I guess I'll have to check that out in my preferences page. Meanwhile...it's Havertown PA, Zone 6

Mother Nature just about has me convinced to give up. Even my back up creek is so low that it's almost down to the pump. Everything is dying or drying up. It's so sad. I, too, have watered and watered but it's just not the same as rain and the heat as been so terrible. Don't have an answer but just wanted to let you know you're not alone.

Looks like my ornamental cherry trees are about dead, as well as my red maple. I'm really getting mad!

Don't give up hope yet: a lot of trees up here have lost their leaves, but the wood is still green. Many of my sapling trees died also, though, so I share your sadness at losing a tree. If you can soak the ground before winter, at least, they have a fighting chance of making it.

Older trees will go dormant to conserve water. The hostas are going dormant too, to conserve moisture. I did lose a few perennial phlox, they were planted this year, didn't have strong roots. My ferns(especially the sensitive fern) have started going dormant early too.

I know about things going dormant (I check the stems and buds for signs of live if the leaves drop)...but I'm talking about stuff actually dying. If it just went dormant, I wouldn't really mind. When something dies and I have a lot of time and care invested in it, it really stinks.

I agree, that's bad. Sorry for your loss, I hate it when a tree dies, they take so long to grow.

Well, we got some really nice downpours and showers yesterday and this morning. :) The ground is pretty well soaked. Thank goodness. That should last for another month if we have to wait. The trees and shrubs are the things I was most worried about. It's nice to have green grass too, but I don't worry too much about that.

We got rain too, HC. About 1" total. Yay! Yay! Hopefully now none of my more mature trees won't die from repeated drought stress (this is the 4th year in a row we have had extended summer heat and drought). Many of my trees are really declining.